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Longmont kidnapping trial: Plot outlined in text messages, on laptop

Prosecutor: Ronald Turner, Monty Turner planned to take boy during local graduations because police busy

By Pierrette J. Shields

Times-Call staff writer

Posted:
04/15/2014 07:59:58 PM MDT

Updated:
04/16/2014 10:25:40 AM MDT

Ronald Turner

Investigators found elaborate plans to kidnap a Longmont boy from his mother's home last May recorded on cell phone text messages and in spreadsheets saved on a suspect's laptop computer, according to Boulder prosecutors.

Boulder District prosecutor Tim Johnson told a Boulder County jury on Tuesday afternoon that 74-year-old Ronald Turner Sr. helped his son Monty Turner plan and carry out the kidnapping of his 3-year-old grandson, Luke, on May 25, 2013. He said extensive evidence collected from electronics, surveillance footage and witnesses would prove those crimes.

According to police and prosecutors, Ronald and Monty Turner planned to forcibly take the boy from Monty Turner's estranged wife's Longmont home on the same day as the St. Vrain Valley School District's graduation ceremony because police would be tied up and traffic would be thick with so many people in town for celebrations.

During opening statements, Johnson shared a conversation taken from a phone found with Monty Turner in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada on May 26 after police and the FBI found the child with his father following an extensive search.

Johnson noted that Monty and Ronald Turner arrived in the neighborhood the night before the kidnapping and Monty Turner hid in a detached garage to wait for an opportune moment to take his son. He communicated with his father using "secret" phones that were logged as such in a contact list Monty Turner kept on his laptop.

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"Holes all done," one message read, according to Johnson's presentation, referring to holes drilled through the walls that police believed he used to peer at the home. "All is quiet I am patient and ready."

In another message to "Dad," Monty Turner inquired about how the police were given the graduation activity. "Dad" noted there was a bad accident and the police were busy.

Monty Turner lost custody of the boy after he previously disappeared with him for months after taking the child on a camping trip. Police had just retrieved the boy from Washington County, where extended Turner family members owned property, just a few months prior.

Police reported he waited for Brandy Turner's teenaged daughter to leave the house on the morning of graduation, confronted his estranged wife in the backyard and then forced his way into the house, shot her in the face with pepper spray and used a stun gun on her when she resisted his attempts to reach the child.

After the assault, Johnson said, Brandy Turner told her estranged husband he could see their son, but said "don't hurt him." He took the boy away on a bicycle, police reported. According to Johnson, he rode with his son to a nearby parking lot where Ronald Turner was waiting for them and they left town. After a search, Ronald Turner was arrested alone in Missouri and police tracked Monty Turner to Canada.

Johnson said Ronald Turner worked with his son to plan the kidnapping and escape with plans so detailed that gas mileage was calculated for escape routes. Johnson said Ronald Turner bought the bike used in the kidnapping and arranged for pre-paid credit cards to fund the escape.

In one message, Johnson noted, Ronald Turner sent a text to his son who was lying in wait in the garage to update him on conditions outside and characterized the situation as "just like the plan God gave us."

Brandy Turner took the stand as a witness for the prosecution and recounted her marriage to Monty Turner. She said they met via the dating website eHarmony and the relationship quickly led to a marriage and the birth of their son. She said the family socialized mainly through church. She and her new husband decided quickly to have a baby, but they struggled through a rough pregnancy. The couple's relationship came under strain shortly after they brought their son home, she said.

Updated court records show Ronald Turner is facing charges of six counts of felony burglary, two counts of felony kidnapping, use of a stun gun, child abuse with no injury, felony menacing, violation of a custody order, third-degree assault, and being an accessory to those crimes.

Ronald and Monty Turner were scheduled to go to trial together, but Monty Turner changed his plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity, which caused an indefinite delay of his prosecution. Ronald Turner's trial moved forward as scheduled.

Brandy Turner's testimony is scheduled to resume on Wednesday morning.